Compare that to sales for Nintendo's 3DS and the results could be seen as worrying for Sony. The 3DS shifted 370,000 units in its first week on sale and a further 210,000 in the second week. Even that was sufficiently worrying for Ninty to cut retail prices in a bid to boost sales. At the time, the 3DS was priced roughly the same as the Wi-Fi model of PS Vita - the equivalent of £219.

Since the price-reduction, the 3DS has outsold all other consoles. In the US, Nintendo shifted almost half a million devices in the week leading up to Christmas, bringing the total number of units sold past the 4m mark.

This was boosted by a strong lineup of recent game releases such as Super Mario Land 3D, Mario Kart 7 and Monster Hunter 3D, but while the Vita promises a healthier-looking lineup of titles for launch, will the price of the hardware be too much for the regular punter?

With more people turning to mobile phone games, and hardware such as Amazon's Kindle Fire hitting shelves at inexpensive prices, Sony could well find itself on the backfoot when the Vita is launched over here on 22 February.